There Is No Need To Worry About Archie Bradley's Injury

By Chad Cramer

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Diamondbacks‘ Archie Bradley, considered the top pitching prospect in baseball, was just placed on the DL with a mild flexor strain in his elbow. With a such a young pitcher it is normal for someone to worry about an elbow injury such as this, but in this case, he should be fine. While flexor strains often lead to Tommy John surgery, Bradley’s was described as being mild, and he will likely only miss around 2 weeks.

The plan for Bradley, who was placed on just the 7-day DL, is to rest his arm for weeks, and then begin a throwing program which will likely have him back in game action within a month. Also, Bradley had an MRI which showed no structural damage, and mild swelling. This is huge, because structural damage would mean that he would likely have to get Tommy John surgery.

After all of the Diamondback pitchers who are presently rehabbing from Tommy John, it is a huge relief that Bradley won’t follow down that path. Currently, Patrick Corbin, Daniel Hudson, Matt Reynolds, and David Hernandez are all recovering from Tommy John, and adding Bradley to that list would have been arguably the worst possible news for the Arizona Diamondbacks right now.

Archie Bradley had also started out the season very poorly with a 5.18 ERA. However, most of his struggles may have stemmed from this injury, and while it is scary whenever a young pitcher gets an elbow injury, it is reassuring to see that it was not very serious.